Friedland's Syerston scandium project secures $400M conditional loan from US DoD

By Northern Miner Staff

After more than two decades, billionaire Robert Friedland's plans to develop a scandium mine in New South Wales (NSW) appear to be nearing fruition.

Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX: SRL), where the Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; US-OTC: IVPAF) founder serves as non-executive chairman, secured a $400-million conditional loan commitment from the US Department of Defense last week for the Syerston scandium project. Sunrise also intends to list on a US securities exchange, it said on August 10.

The project hosts one of the largest and highest-grade mineable scandium deposits within a Western jurisdiction, the company stated. While Sunrise plans to make a final investment decision by year-end, early works are already underway. An initial focus on nickel at the site, followed by limited demand for scandium beyond solid oxide fuel cells, delayed the project, CEO Sam Riggall told MINING.COM sister publication The Northern Miner.

"Fast forward a decade, and suddenly scandium has found its way into a range of different applications, like semiconductors and 3D printing for defence components," Riggall said, noting that fuel cells have moved beyond being a niche green technology.

"They're now really at the heart and centre of how you deploy AI and data centres effectively across the US," he said in an interview. "When you are so heavily constrained by the lack of gas generation capacity at the moment, fuel cells are providing a really interesting filler for that niche, and that probably won't go unnoticed by China either."

Nickel at First

Sunrise initially advanced the project's large nickel-cobalt resource to shovel-ready status. However, it pivoted back to scandium when Indonesian supply flooded the nickel market several years ago.

New company estimates in August now peg capital expenditures for the project at A$450–475 million ($315–333 million). That is nearly four times the feasibility study estimate of $120 million from March, as the company is now considering a processing plant in the US and the ability to triple output to 180 tonnes.

Once in production, potentially in 2028, the project will produce 60 tonnes of scandium per year for a global market that the US Geological Survey estimates at 40 to 70 tonnes annually. However, annual demand could reach 300 tonnes by 2030 due to fuel cells, Riggall said.

Scandium is essential for defence, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and wireless spectrum technologies. The US has not actively mined scandium in decades, leaving the market heavily dependent on China.

The metal "is already heavily embedded in our wireless technologies," Riggall said. "There is no 5G or 6G wireless without scandium, so the utility of the metal in industrial processes and technologies has come along in leaps and bounds, and it really sits at the heart of a lot of defence-centred technologies that are really critical, particularly in the United States, which is the largest manufacturer of them."

First Output

Syerston hosts 45.9 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 414 parts per million (ppm) scandium, for 19,007 tonnes of contained scandium, according to a resource issued in September. It also contains 5.7 million inferred tonnes grading 364 ppm scandium, for 2,082 tonnes of contained scandium.

The Department of Defense financing provides the US with a right of first offer on Sunrise's output, which would support demand from US companies, including defence contractors. The financing could be a landmark moment for Sunrise, according to Friedland.

"The world has entered an era in which access to critical minerals will shape industrial strength, technology leadership and national security. Scandium is one of the clearest examples, supporting the technologies, industries and defense capabilities that will shape the coming decades," he said in a statement dated August 10.

Sunrise "may become an American company," Friedland told Bloomberg TV after the deal was announced. "Uncle Sam likes these companies to be domiciled in the United States."

Supply Doubts

Scandium made headlines earlier this year when activist investor Hunterbrook Capital released a report expressing doubts about US-listed fuel cell company Bloom.